i would also add, i think cornell is right about the probl problems facing republicans right now, which is that the incentives for each individual member of the house of representatives, every republican member, are in a sense to oppose president obama as strongly as possible. because most of them represent safe seats. where the big danger is where a primary challenge from the right. but the incentive for the party as a whole is you know, look, the legislative landscape is tilted very strongly against republicans right now. taxes will go up in some sense, and for the long-term future of the party it is probably sort of better to retreat and find new ground to fight on. so you have the duali ining imperatives at work. >>> and more breaking news coming up, a rare break on the senate side, actually getting something done, something that the hard-hit survivors of hurricane sandy are counting on. >>> also, we'll tell you about the people who got the job of going after unethical lawmakers, and bipartisan efforts to those watch dogs, keeping them honest. e alli can help you lose one more by bl